Advocating for more critical thinking resources to help students address misinformation on social media has been adopted by the Central Okanagan Board of Education. 

The trustees debated the issue at their board meeting Wednesday, the resolution introduced to the agenda by trustee Wayne Broughton.

Broughton said he was influenced by the recent passing of a UBC Okanagan teaching colleague, who had been working on developing this issue as a policy framework for schools to follow. 

"I am doing this in part in his memory but I also do feel students today are faced with a lot of decision-making imposed on them from social media," Broughton said. 

Broughton said students need the critical thinking tools to analyze what they are being told on social media and how to avoid being manipulated by false or misleading information. 

Broughton referenced a study co-written by SFU professor Nicolas Fillion originally in 2017, which cited as the most pressing issue being a lack of guidance for teachers on defining critical thinking, how it can be taught effectively and how it is assessed using performance-based language. 

"Although involving teachers in the reform process shows that they look forward to integrating critical thinking in their teaching, they may revert to old habits due to the lack of resources and support," concluded the study. 

The report further cited the fundamental differences in definition, content and assessment expectation, and basic knowledge of critical thinking terminology.

Also called for was creation of a formal partnership involving the Ministry of Education and Childcare, school boards, schools, teachers and proactive secondary institutions to assemble the resources for successful critical thinking instruction reform. 

In his resolution, Broughton attempted to address the digital information overload facing students, which will only intensify as "Artifical Intelligence driven propoganda" becomes increasingly commonplace on the Internet. 

"Students need to understand what a rational argument is and what makes an argument logically sound or not," Broughton said. 

The resolution identifies critical thinking as the ability to analyze arguments, claims or evidence; inductive or deductive reasoning skills; to judge or evaluate evidence and inferences; and to make decisions that solve problems. 

Those skills would not be fostered in a specific class, but adopted by teachers in various subject classes as part of the curriculum.

The trustees were unanimous in forwarding the resolution to the BC School Trustees Association for further consideration at its annual general meeting later this spring. 

Other trustees speaking to the resolution were positive to the intent of the resolution, with Chantelle Desrosiers noting more discussion will be needed to determine how additional critical thinking resources and instructional tools are used in the classroom. 

Kevin Kaardal, Central Okanagan Public Schools superintendent/CEO, also noted critical thinking has been a teaching emphasis for the school district for several years now. 

The concept of enabling students to become critical thinkers is one that is often repeated by Kaardal and other school administrative staff at school board meetings. 

"That work is ongoing in our schools" Kaardal said.